“Who could blame me?” : an Albigensian store victim of arson

A blackened glass door and a charred curtain about twenty centimeters long. This is all that remains of the fire on Sunday evening, 41 rue de la Croix-Verte, a stone’s throw from Place du Vigan in Albi. “It could have been worse,” sighs the manager of the affected store on the ground floor. His exotic grocery store, KPM, could well have gone up in smoke.

Sunday evening, after dark, a flammable liquid was allegedly poured on the front steps of the store. It would then have flowed through the gap in the glass door and infiltrated the store. The fabric curtain on the other side of the door, long enough to touch the floor, then allegedly caught fire.

Police conclude arson

“Fortunately, the police intervened very quickly,” assures the merchant. He estimates that around “5 or 6 police officers” and “around ten firefighters” moved to put out the flames. These did not have time to spread throughout the rest of the store, with windows systematically fitted with curtains… Just as flammable as the one on the door.

Fortunately, inside KPM, the only traces of the fire are a few smoke-blackened cobwebs and shreds of curtain on the doorway. The store was therefore able to open without incident on Monday, despite the last traces of the flames.

After a brief examination of the scene, police concluded that it was arson. However, the police have no information on the identity of the culprit(s). The manager does not lead any further. “We get along very well with all our neighbors, who could blame me?” he asks.

The partially burned curtain was recovered by the scientific police for analysis purposes, in particular “to identify the flammable substance”, specifies the manager. He announces that he and his wife have filed a complaint and hope that the culprit will be found quickly.